JOHN BISSET/Stuff
An aerial view of the West Coast town of Reefton, with the Inangahua River on the right.
Floodwalls in Reefton are not being maintained and need to be assessed urgently, the West Coast Regional Council has been told.
Cr Laura Coll-McLaughlin raised the issue at the recent Risk and Assurance Committee meeting.
She said it was a matter “of urgency” that protection banks on the true right bank of the Inangahua River at Reefton be assessed, due to recent record floods.
A significant flood at Reefton about three or four decades ago prompted the work.
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The assumption was the council was maintaining it, Coll-McLaughlin said.
“Reefton really needs to have a rating district, and we need to have it brought in before any future local government reform,” she said.
“In future council will need a body of work that does a scoping study of structures on the West Coast that are not in any rating district.”
The council risked “credibility issues” if it had no plan for repairs or maintenance or had not taken the step to clarify ownership.
It could also affect its ability to access National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) funding.
“The reason I’m bringing it up here today is a matter of urgency. The regional council needs a report tabled particularly about Reefton.”
Acting planning and science manager Rachel Vaughan said rating districts did not exist often because residents chose not to have one.
The result was that any historic assets were then prone “to degrade” and in hindsight, this left council with a major problem for funding capital works following a flood.
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Reefton is at risk of flooding as its floodbanks have not been maintained, the West Coast Regional Council has been told.
Vaughan said community education was needed.
“It does have to be funded from somewhere. That’s something people don’t quite understand.
“There’s a feeling we’re a bottomless pit. There is a real problem in Buller.”
It was not clear what assets came over when the regional council was established.
Coll-McLaughlin said she understood community appetite was needed to set up rating districts.
But it appeared the Reefton community had not recently been appraised.
Given a council hydrological report noting record highs in the Inangahua in recent months “it really needs to happen”.
“If [the river] goes out on the true right bank, I know who they will be looking at – and there will be no funding from NEMA.”
